The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced on Friday it will begin allowing cruise ships to restart cruises!!
The CDC announced following the expiration of the No Sail order on October 31, the agency will take a “phased approach to resuming cruise ship operations in U.S. waters.”
The Conditional Sailing Order for Cruise Ships will encompass a few phases:
- Testing and additional safeguards for crew members
- Simulated voyages to test cruise line ability to mitigate virus spread onboard
- Phased return to cruise ship passenger voyages
These phases are subject to change based on public health considerations and cruise ship operator’s demonstrated ability to mitigate COVID-19 risk.
In addition, the Conditional Sailing Order announced new requirements for initial phases relating to crew testing.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announces this framework for a phased resumption of cruise ship passenger operations. Considering the continued spread of COVID-19 worldwide and increased risk of COVID-19 on cruise ships, a careful approach is needed to safely resume cruise ship passenger operations. CDC is establishing requirements to mitigate the COVID-19 risk to passengers and crew, prevent the further spread of COVID-19 from cruise ships into U.S. communities, and protect public health and safety. After expiration of CDC’s No Sail Order (NSO) on October 31, 2020, CDC will take a phased approach to resuming cruise ship passenger operations in U.S. waters.”
The CDC still has its Level 3 travel notice for cruise ships in place, which warns against anyone taking a cruise because of the high risk of COVID-19 infection on ships. The agency first put the notice in place on March 8, nearly one week before cruise companies decided to shut down passenger operations amid outbreaks on several ships.
We are so happy to see the Cruise Industry to start again, and we will update all of you as soon as we receive information from all of the different Cruise companies.